Aevidum Night Takes Center Stage

A little more than 17 years have passed since the death of Philip Cardin, who died by suicide Nov. 7, 2003. He was just 15 years old and a Cocalico High School sophomore.

In the months after his death, a group Cocalico High School students created a suicide prevention awareness group, coining it Aevidum, which means, “I got your back.”

Aevidum has since become a nonprofit organization, with student groups at more than 500 schools across Pennsylvania and beyond.

In just about every year since 2004, an annual Aevidum Lacrosse Night has been held in some form by the Cocalico girls lacrosse team. This year’s edition came Tuesday night when Cocalico traveled to Ephrata. In a way, it sort of brought things full circle.

Before his death, Philip played for the Ephrata boys lacrosse club program; Cocalico didn’t yet have a boys lacrosse program. That Ephrata team practiced on a field across from Ephrata High School, less than a mile from where Ephrata now plays its games on a turf field across from Ephrata Intermediate Middle School.

Philip’s mother, Mary Beth Cardin, was the first Cocalico girls lacrosse head coach. Philip’s younger sister, Maggie Myers (maiden name Cardin), played lacrosse for Cocalico in the mid-2000s alongside teammate Courtney Reinhold.

Maggie Myers is now the Mountaineers’ girls lacrosse head coach, with mother Mary Beth Cardin serving as an Ephrata assistant. Reinhold is now the Cocalico girls lacrosse coach.

“The fact that these girls are carrying on the message is really special,” Mary Beth Cardin said. “It’s a message that can really spread. And it doesn’t always have to be a huge message. It can be a small message.”

Like those on the Hershey’s chocolate bars given to Cocalico and Ephrata girls lacrosse players prior to Tuesday’s game. On the chocolate bar is a sticker, “Aevidum, I’ve got your back.”

Prior to the game, all the players wore black warm-up shirts, with the word “Aevidum” in white lettering across the front.

“I don’t think you ever overcome it,” Myers said of her brother’s death. “It has since turned into a positive message. ... You might be feeling down. But this is about us saying, ‘What can we do to be there for you?’ ” It’s why the outcome of Tuesday’s game, an 18-2 win in favor of Cocalico, didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things.

“Doing something like this where we can come together as two schools,” Reinhold said. “Celebrating over the same thing and working towards the same thing, making sure everyone knows someone has always got their back. ... It’s an amazing feeling.”

If interested in donating to Aevidum, visit aevidum.com/cms. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Llifeline at 800-273-8255.

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